


The Sword and Shield of the Universe

by Nahjii



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, F/F, F/M, POV Female Character, female Ben
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-01-06 15:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12214041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nahjii/pseuds/Nahjii
Summary: Fem!Ben, Azmuth The Great Thinker is known throughout the universe as a being in possession of a very dangerous mind. The most dangerous thing he'd ever come up with was the Omnitrix. Meant to be a shield against Evil, only someone truly Good could ever be worthy of wielding it. Well, it's a good thing Annie Tennyson found it and not some other weirdo.





	1. Chapter 1

Annie opened the door to _Max’s Plumbing_ feeling triumphant. She’d woken up early enough to add almost 4 extra miles onto her morning run and then her Mom had relented on her new reign of healthy food terror to cook pancakes, with actual pancake batter this time. If you asked her milk and egg substitutes everywhere should be banned. Like forever. Then Gwen had called her on the drive to HQ to tell her about this hilarious thing Kevin had done last night. All in all, it was shaping up to be a pretty great morning. She would have stopped for an after-breakfast snack but Grandpa Max called to tell her he had something important to tell her so she skipped it and picked up the pace. Which leads her to now: stepping off the elevator into Bellwood Plumber HQ.

  
“Hey, Gramps, what do ya wanna gab about today?” Annie called out when she found her Grandpa standing just behind the bank of control monitors observing the city. In the lower left corner, she spotted some Plumber cadets checking her, Gwen, and Kevin’s last baddie, Zombozo, into the prison 30 feet below them.

  
Max sighed when he saw his granddaughter and put an arm around her when she came close enough. He knew she wasn’t going to enjoy what he was about to say but it had to be done.

  
“Well, Annie I’ve got some news for you dear. Your being assigned a partner, permanently.” Max knew it was only the shock that gave him the chance to finish his sentence because a second later she was wrenching herself out from underneath his arm so she could argue with him face to face.

  
“What! What the fuck do you-“

  
“Antoinette Marie, you watch your mouth!” Max instantly glared Annie down and she immediately shut up, she knew the rules after all. Both she and Gwen were only allowed to curse during fights or when they were being sewn up in medical. One because it was a fight, so of course they were going let a few bad words slip and the other because stitches hurt. Max had certainly let loose a few times when something ridiculously bad happened, but he made sure the girls knew they weren't allowed to go around cursing the air blue just because he wasn’t in earshot. And they got it mostly, but Annie sometimes got worked up and cursing seemed like the only way she could really express her feelings on stuff.

  
“I'm sorry Grandpa Max,” She said truly remorseful but still unwilling to back down, “But I really don’t want a partner okay? Do I really need one?” She asked, “I mean I’ve been fine for two weeks almost, I haven't even gone to medical once. And I’ve been following all the rules and everything! I read all the baddies the Intergalactic Miranda Rights and I report in every day and I alert the closest patrol when I run into something. And the first three days I didn’t even cause so much as a _pothole_ Grandpa! I’ve been super, super, _super_ good.” At this point, Annie was ready to get on her knees and whine if she had to. She simply could not, absolutely would not get stuck with whatever uber-boring, rule-abiding cadet the Magisters would deem good enough to keep watch over ‘The Sword of Azmuth’. Annie got hives even thinking about it.

  
Max spoke up to stop Annie before she could really get on a roll, “Annie, Gem, you’re right, you have been really really good these past weeks but a grandfather still has a right to worry about his granddaughter, alright?” He held up a hand to stall further protests.

  
“Yeah, you do” Annie conceded his point, “But Grandpa? Did you forget that I have instant access to some of the most powerful beings in the next two galaxies?” She said waving her Omnitrix clad arm in front of her. Max gently grabbed said limb to make sure he had Annie’s full attention.

  
“Be that as it may Antoinette, you also can't deny that you can't rely on just your wits and the Watch to get you out of trouble all the time.” He lectured.

  
“What will you do when the Watch times out during a difficult fight? What if Ghostfreak acts up again and we have no way of knowing until your possessed body makes it’s way back here?” Max let go of her arm to cup her delicate face. He still remembered being there at her birth, she had been so tiny then, a warm squirmy little pink-faced bundle in his arms that giggled and grasped at his fingers. From the day he’d meet them Max had been wrapped around both his Granddaughters little fingers, ready and willing to do anything to keep them safe.

  
“I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something terrible happened to you and I could have prevented it,” He chuckled when she shamelessly nuzzled into his palm, Annie was always a cuddly child, “Do you really think I would stick you with someone boring? I think you’ll quite like who I picked out. He’s a good cadet, top of his class shows great skill in hand-to-hand combat and logical thinking. Don’t grimace at me, young lady.” He scolded.

  
“He’s also highly adaptable, able to readjust strategies mid-battle and not much slows him down when he’s given a mission. Loyal too, the only technical smudges to his record are when a mission went south and he prioritized getting his team to safety instead of completing the mission. He even offered to take all the blame on his own.” Max explained, looking down at Annie’s thoughtful face. He thought her thinking face was adorable.

  
Annie ignored her Grandpa’s face, she knew what he looked like when he was mentally bragging about the ‘cuteness of his lovely granddaughters!’ she and Gwen had learned to whether the silent and sometimes verbal dotting with patient grace since Max didn’t do it that often. She just stepped fully into Max’s personal bubble to bury her face in his chest and breath in his odd scent of alien cooking ingredients, aftershave, motor oil, and the special polish he used to clean all his plumber guns. Max’s arms came up around her automatically, holding Annie to him and letting her lean all her weight on him.

  
This was her usual thinking pose: Annie would find one of her family and just flop on their lap or chest to block out the world and think without interruption. The first time she did it to Kevin he thought she had passed out or something and had full on thrown her over his shoulder and run to Gwen nearly screaming about how she was ‘totally sick or something!’ and to ‘please not kill him’ cause he didn't do anything. His face when it was explained to him that it just meant Annie trusted him completely and his scent was something that helps calm her down and think was even funnier.

Annie relaxed even further into her Grandfather when he started petting her shoulder-length hair. She spent the next 10 minutes with her head buried in Max’s chest, 5 of those minutes were spent actually thinking about this so-called ‘perfect partner’ and the last 5 were just so she could enjoy her Grandpa's warmth. She didn’t see much of him these days now that he was retired from field duty and working full-time as one of Bellwood’s permanent Magisters, she missed him.

  
Annie stepped back and heaved the most put-upon sigh she could manage making Max chuckle at her dramatics, “Okay fine, I’ll try and work with who you picked. But if he goes around criticizing the way I operate we’re gonna have some problems, alright Grandpa?” She bargained, holding out her hand so they could shake on it. Max took it without hesitation, he knew he had picked the perfect Plumber to protect his Granddaughter and fight _with_ her, not for or against her. They shook and said a firm, “Deal made!” and Max walked her over the elevator while telling Annie that her new partner was already out and waiting for her so they could get started on their first case together.

Apparently, a store had been blown up last night; a victim of a protection racket that was going around threatening off-world immigrant store owners for taydenite. Her new partner was already out patrolling the city for any activity, Annie was to go check out the site of the explosion and look for any clues about what went down.

As she left the garage she hoped that this case stayed away from Mr. Baumann and his store, the man already popped a blood vessel if he even saw her on the street. Fighting near or, Cosmos forbid it, _in_ his store would make him so mad he’d make her bi-monthly chore day absolutely hellish if it got trashed. Again.


	2. Chapter 2

It was easy for Annie to find  _ Pakmar’s Place,  _ she just had to look for the crater. According to Plumber’s records, Pakmar had immigrated to Earth and decided to open a little toilet emporium which serviced both aliens and humans.  _ “Looks like Pakmar’s Place has gone to shit.” _ A giggle slipped out as she swung off her bike,  _ “Shitty joke Annie, get serious. It’s time to count the possibilities.” _

She tightened the gloves on her hands, it had been hell figuring out a weapon that would work with both her alien and human body. The gloves tied into the Omnitrix so they changed as she did, let her stun enemies and gave her a better grip; the matching boots could pop out spikes and had grippy soles, crucial when you went from an incorporeal being made of mist and nightmares to a vulnerable human teenage girl.

“Wow they must be using something with a high charge yield if it leaves a crater this big,” she muttered and opened the communicator on the Watch.

“HQ? it’s Infinite. I'm on site at the explosion.” Learning the right way to speak on the comms had taken forever but Annie always felt a little cooler when she did it, and it always got an ooh and aah out of any kids in the vicinity. 

“Infinite, this is Magister Piccadilly, you are go.” 

“Yeah Piccadilly, judging by the size and depth the perps are using something with a large yield, do you think it might have left residue behind?”

“Looking at satellite now Infinite... yeah, Infinite that definitely left something behind, scan it and I’ll have labs start tracking over the city.”

“You got it Piccadilly, scanning now.” Annie thumbed the watch into scanner mode and aimed it at the crater, a green beam hit the ground in front of her as she carefully made her way down, sweeping her hand back forth. Having the resources of an intergalactic organization at her fingertips made figuring out a baddies next move  _ so _ more easier than when she was younger. The watch chirped when she got to the middle of the crater.

“Scan finished, sending now Piccadilly.”

“Received, sending to labs now… says it’ll take about a few to process and start looking for hits around the city. Stay on site and look around for any more evidence and if possible get a statement from any witnesses if they’re still around.” 

“Affirmative Piccadilly. Infinite out.” She hung up and turned around to climb back up the side of the crater fully intending to start turning toilets over when the sound of something big hitting the ground caught her attention. It was something big and as usual alien: a big alien something. 

“So, uh, you didn’t happen to see what did this? Did you?” The big alien something rushed her with intent to harm. She dove to the side rolled and slapped her comm open, “Hostile on-site HQ! Repeat, hostile on site! Engaging now!” 

Annie darted to the side when it rushed her again and scrolled through aliens calling out, “Expand my probability, Cannonball!” hit the dial and turned into…Spidermonkey. She huffed “I swear Azmuth makes them do this on purpose, I didn’t even  _ ask _ for an upgrade this time!” Annie complained to the attacking alien while using a web to swing up and out of the way of another charge. 

“ _ He’s _ the one who makes me come in! I was fine with the old one, but nooo! ‘The bearer of my Omnitrix must be able to fight any opponent and for that, I must expand its ability to integrate new DNA.’  _ oof _ ” She mocked the old Galvin in a throaty voice as she shot webs at a big piece of loose concrete. Swinging it around she used it to try and tangle up the beast's legs up but it bent its head and used its horn to tear up the webs. 

_ “Strong and semi-intelligent, Fuck I’ll have to actually try this time.” _ She swung up and over the beast's head to the other side of the crater and webbed another, bigger piece of concrete.  Annie counted to three Mississippi before she  _ pulled _ and swung the concrete into its head sending it off course and stunning it. She skipped backward, all six eyes scanning her surroundings looking for anything she could use to fight when suddenly the beast roared and turned away running up the side of the crater and into the darkness of a half-collapsed building. She stayed in a battle stance counting heartbeats. 

_ “3 Mississippi, 4 Mississippi, 5 Mississippi, 6.  _ Okay, what the fuck?” the last part was out loud as she looked around confused, she usually had to kick a bit more ass than that to get baddies to run away from her. Weird. Annie kept her senses focused even as she untensed and let go of the transformation, starting to walk around the crater again.

“Is it gone!?”

“Fuck the what!” Annie almost broke her neck trying to turn towards the sudden voice while trying to dial in another alien and judging by the way the little blue beetle looking alien hiding in the toilet was looking at her, she looked pretty damn funny too. 

“Uh, yeah. It’s gone now, you can come out of…there.” That toilet looked really odd.

“Hey, you’re Pakmar right? You own, um owned, this store?” Annie questioned him, it, them? Alien species tended to get wild with gender, so Annie usually stuck with calling anyone she met by name until she learned what pronouns they preferred. 

“Yes, I am Pakmar. And this was my place. Pakmar’s place.” Pakmar declared as they climbed out of the toilet and grabbed a broom and dustpan that was miraculously still intact and started sweeping. They must still be in shock.

“Well Pakmar, the Plumbers have heard rumors of an alien protection racket going around Bellwood. Did they do this?” She asked, flipping the watch open to record their conversation.

“They didn’t tell names and didn’t stick around long. Stayed long enough to threaten store, collet tayden, and leave. They come in, set bomb down and ask for all taydenite in my till then take taydenite and bomb and leave.” The little being kept sweeping and Annie bent down to help them pick up what they couldn’t move getting a thankful nod in return. 

“Slow week, this week. Not enough this time, they take teyden but leave bomb.  _ Pakmar’s Toilet Emporium _ ruined!” Pakmar cried out. Annie crouched down to Pakmar’s height with her head turned away, offering her presence as comfort without making them feel like they had to hold it together in front of her. Pakmar muttered, distressed for a few minutes before their sorrow was interrupted by a little chirp. The lab was finally getting back to her with results. 

“Don’t worry anymore Pakmar. Plumber HQ has tracked the bombs those thugs are using and I’m going to head to the next store they plan to threaten to put them away for good!” Then Annie looked at exactly where she was supposed to go. _ “Goddamn, I jinxed myself like a fucking rookie.”  _ She shook her head and turned back to Pakmar. 

“Please stay here, some other plumbers are on their way and they’re going to want to ask you a few questions, and then they’re going to arrange for anything you need for the time being. Alright?” When Annie got a sniffly nod she beamed and bounced to her feet, long legs carrying her up out of the crater and onto her bike. She wasted no time on getting her helmet on and was soon revving down the street, using alleyways to cut down on travel time. As long as she explained she was on the clock for superhero duty she wouldn't be arrested, as long as she didn’t do anything too extreme. 

Pulling up outside  _ Baumanns’  _ Annie was ready to fight. Mr.Baumann was unrelenting about her being near his store on a good day, getting permission to fight  _ inside _ was going to be a battle in and of itself. She tightened her gloves and mentally pulled up her big girl panties, it was time to get shit done. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I hope the fight scene is alright


	3. Chapter 3

Annie directed her bike around the back of _Baumann’s’ Grocery_ , hopped off and prepared herself for the biggest fight of her life: getting Mr. Baumann to let her in his store. The old man would fight tooth and nail and then some, but it was her duty to keep Bellwood and her citizens safe, even a crotchety old man that yelled a lot. Mostly at her. Also, mostly because of her. I mean how, just how, was she supposed to know why Mr. Baumann’s store always got destroyed when she was near? Literally every single time Annie was near something in the store broke. Every time! The man was cursed or something.

She was getting off track. Mission time was serious time. Annie being able to take the punches the Universe threw was essential to the continued existence of a Universe. So, it was time to go to work.

 Annie picked the back-door lock and entered the storage room. She dodged boxes and shelves to stop next to the door to peek in through the little glass window. Seeing no one coming her way or in the back aisles she leaned back and thumbed the Watch open.

Annie scrolled over to XCLR8, prayed _‘Please be nice new Omnitrix’_ and pressed down. Feeling the familiar stretch and pull of transforming Annie could only hope that even if this testy new Watch didn’t give her what she asked for it would still give her a relatively low-profile alien……She turned into Wildvine. Annie huffed and ducked out of the back room.

_‘At least I’m not Cannonball or Azmuth forbid Humungousaur.’_

Meandering between aisles Annie paused every couple of steps to pretend to pursue shelves. If the extortionists were already in the building not looking like a space cop was essential to not getting herself or, more importantly, a bystander shot. Or worse hostages. A shudder worked its way down her spine, she hated hostage situations. They were rarely easy and never ended cleanly. Annie shook her head, now was not the time to get distracted, now was mission time and lives are on the line! She may or may not be a little more nervous about meeting her new partner than she wanted to admit, even to herself.

Mentally shaking her nerves off Annie made her way to the little bistro near the front of the store. Baumann was a business genius. He offered fresh groceries, in-store eating, and you could even get groceries delivered. He covered all his bases and did it well last, she checked he made a very healthy sum each month. Rounding the stand, she took a seat at the bistro while side eyeing the cloaked figure sitting at the other end.

_‘Hmm, doesn't seem to be hiding aggressive behavior and the civies don’t look like they’re pretending to not be hostages. Could just be someone who’s shy about being out ‘n’ out in public, or one of the thugs sent a lookout.’_ Deciding to keep one eye on her seatmate Annie gave a curt _hemhem_ to get Mr. Baumann’s attention.

The old man turned with a customer ready smile in place, “Welcome to Baumann’s! I’m Mr. Baumann, how can I help you today?” And then he saw the Omnitrix symbol on her currently leafy chest. The switch from polite friendliness to spitting mad was truly impressive and something only triggered by the sight of Annie and Annie alone.

“ _What_ do you _think_ you’re doing! Out! Get out! Not today Tennyson, and not _ever_! Get _out_ of my store before I _throw_ you out!” Leaning over the counter and hissing at her seemed a bit extreme but she supposed the man was allowed some liberties. But Annie was here on business, so she raised a hand to stall the rant before it could really begin.

“Stop Mr. Baumann. I’m here on Plumber business, so unless you _want_ your store to be a crater in the ground I’m not leaving.” Her soft but stern words shut the man up and his, very, reluctant nod let her go on. “A protection racket has been going around the Underground and HQ says they’re going to show up here next, today. Is that intel correct?” She asked. In the corner of her eye, her mysterious seat partner shifted on their stool.

In return, Mr. Baumann sighed and crossed his arms but nodded yes. Annie sighed too, “This has been going on for a month Baumann, why didn’t you alert the Plumbers?” Why had this been allowed to escalate this far? Someone’s livelihood had gone up in smoke today, what was no doubt years of work reduced to ash and rubble just because no one picked up a phone. Annie could never understand why anyone would let themselves be subjected to treatment like this. Her very soul demanded she punch out any fool who thought they could make just innocent people suffer just because they have power and others don’t.

Mr. Baumann shifted uneasily under her glare. “I uh, I heard about what happened to Pakmar. Is, is she okay?” Her asked avoiding looking at her. Mysterious Cloak fidgeted again.

“Yeah,” Annie sighed glad to know what pronouns the little shopkeeper went by, “She hid in one of her toilets and was able to ride out the explosion despite being at ground zero. By some miracle there was no one else in the store at the time, apparently, Pakmar always closes the store ‘for lunch’ before the extortionists stop by to visit.” Her explanation eased some tension from the store owners’ shoulders.

Before she could interrogate Mr. Baumann further a _bingbong_ chimed from the front doors. The way Baumann tensed up again told her all she needed to know before she turned. The thugs had arrived.

Annie gave the newcomers a once over before turning back to the counter. Three hostiles: fish-outta-water, not-so-little chicken, and Missus Roboto. And they had a bomb with them. And her mystery partner was still a no-show. Ugh, heroing is a hard-damn job that only gets more difficult when you’re on your own so where is her new partner?!

“Aaawk! Listen up, Bauman! We’ve come for the protection money, but Boss says to double it this time.” Chicken Little spoke up as he and his crew approached the bistro counter.

“Double! But you just incre-!” Mr. Baumann’s protests were cut off by fish-outta-water setting the case he was carrying on his shoulder down with a _clank_ , “U-uhh, Silly me how could I have forgotten the price we already agreed on? How forgetful of me.” He chuckled nervously and reached down to get the lock box for taydenite from the bistro still.

Setting the heavy metal box on the counter, Baumann got the bag with the usual amount from his pocket and began adding in the extra tayden. Annie narrowed her eyes _‘He really knew they were going to come today. Why not alert us in advance and bust them and the entire protection ring in one go?’_ As Baumann turned to hand the bad over his eyes met hers for just a second.

She sent a vine to snatch the bag just before it landed in Missus Roboto’s servo inciting angry reponses from the three baddies and Mr. Baumann.

“Sorry guys, but extortion is a major felloney, and threating to bomb a pubolic place is considered terrorism by the Plumbers Association. So please, put your hands behind your head, kneel on the ground and surrender peacfully.” Annie spoke as she got off the stool. The Baddies Three gasped as they caught sight of the Omnitrix sybol on her chest.

“ _sqwak_ It’s Annie Infinate!”

“Is The Sword!”

“Azmuth’s Choosen!”

Fish Bowl growled, slammed the bomb down and actived it, _‘No way in hell am I going down without a fight!’_ a transparent red sphere shimmered into existance around the bomb.

“No!” Annie shouted, tossed the tayden bag over her shoulder to Baumman and whipped three vines at the villans _‘Damn it! Three baddies and still no backup!’_ The trio scattered, pulling out weapons while all the civilians in the store screamed and ran for the closest exits.

Annie moved closer to the bomb and grew thorns on her vines as she whipped at the barrior to test it’s strength. Unfortenly it held under her assult. Damn. She skittered back from the bomb as two of the Bad Trio came at her.

“Antoinette Tennyson! You had better not mess my store up more than strictly nessecery! Or I’ll have your hide!” Mr. Baumann shouted before ducking a from the lady bot.

“Mr. Baumann!” Annie grunted as she blocked punches from the bot and the chicken, “I’m kinda in the middle of something!” She hissed and sent two vines to try and wrap up the chicken since he was better at hand-to-hand, and swung the rest at the robot to get her to back up and give Annie some breathing room.

Suddenly the watch timed out in the middle of her blocking kicks from the chicken dude, and she was human, and she had no vines to hit her opponet with, and she wasn’t going to get her arms up in time, and a roundhouse that strong would send her flying an-!

A russle of fabric, and a short of ‘pew’ noise and Chicken guy was sent flying back into a shelf. Annie was left standing there braced for an attack that never came, her arms up to protect her head. She turned around.

A male looking blue alien was standing there with a gun in hand, obviously having to fired on Drumsticks. Annie spotted the pile of fabric on the floor at his feet and realized what she was looking at.

“Mystery Cloak!” She gasped, looking shocked.

As if in reply the alien lept in action, literally, jumping over Annie’s head and delivering a devistaing drop-kick to Missus Roboto. While kneeling the gun was converted to a bow and Bubble Boy was then taken out by the laser arrows.

Annie snapped out of her shock and primed her taser gloves in case this new blue interloper was just more competant backup for the Baddie Trio. “State your name and puropse here! Now!” She ordered.

Blue and Armed turn towards her, a small concertranted frown on their face and looked her over with cat-like orange eyes. “I am Rook Blonko, Magister Tennyson sent me. I am your new patner.”

_‘Why the hell did you wait this long to introduce yourself?!’_ Annie yelled mentally.


	4. Chapter 4

“I am Rook Blonko, your new partner.” Armed, Blue, and Serious told her.

_‘Why the fuck didn’t you introduce yourself earlier!?’_ She mentally shrieked.

The bomb beeping more rapidly as the countdown got closer to zero distracted her from her angry confusion.

“Okay! Rook, was it? We need to get this bomb to a less populated area and _now_.” Annie opened the watch and started scrolling, she needed someone big, tough, and relatively mobile, “Do you have transportation? Once I get this thing off the ground I’m going to be moving fast to get clear of civilians and you will be left behind if you don’t keep up.” Oh! That was perfect, she slapped the activator and let her chosen alien take center stage. Armordillo would be a big help with all the lifting she was about to do.

The other teenage looking alien snapped to salute when she began issuing orders. “Yes, Specialist Tennyson! I have a large vehicle for the purpose of transporting criminals back to holding Ma’am!” Oh, stars she hated being addressed by her official rank in the Plumbers. But Annie didn’t have time to scold over eager privates.

Mr. Baumann almost vaulted the counter in his anger, howling: “Tennyson! You had better get that bomb away from my shop! And my customers! And my car!” The man was red-faced and practically squealing.

“Baumann chill out! I’m getting the bomb out now, but you need to calm down and get anyone in the store and nearby to the shelter under the store _now_.” She snapped. “Private! I need you on scanning for signs of life and opening up a doorway.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Rook snapped and unholstered his rifle-net thrower thing from his shoulder. A palm slap to the butt opened the top into a scanner that he used to start sweeping the area. A _ping_ came back on the second sweep, “A building is still under construction four miles away.” He turned the rifle-scanner-bow into a laser and began cutting into the wall, Baumann was thankfully to busy ushering people down into his bunker to protest _too_ vocally but did growl in Annie’s direction just to remind them they were going to hear from him later. _Great_.

Annie started prying up the floor around the bomb to carry it, the forcefield had cut right through the floor and concrete beneath to make the shield practically impenetrable. She finished hauling the whole thing up on her currently yellow shoulder and turned toward Rook the Rookie. “Is my exit ready Rookie?”

Said blue (possibly)boy shot her a confused look over his shoulder but returned to lasering through the last few inches of wall. “I do not remember introducing my self as Rookie, Specialist Tennyson. I am called Rook. And yes, the exit point,” He stood and gave the loose wall a strong kick, “Is ready for you ma’am.”  

Annie settled the bomb across her shoulders and decided to ignore the rookies misunderstanding in favor of checking with Baumann. “All clear Mr. Baumann? The countdown on this thing is getting short and I have ground to cover.”

“Yeah Tennyson, everyone who was on the street and in the store is down there,” Baumann grumbled and climbed down the ladder into the cellar. Rook moved to help close and seal the hatch, but Baumann shot a hand out to halt its progress. He glared right at Annie and growled, “You had better come back here Antoinette. Someone has to reimburse me for all the damage you’ve done today.” And he slammed the hatch closed.

“…Love you too old man.” And smiling as widely as Armordrillo’s face would let her Annie called out for Rook, “Hop in your ride Rookie we’re on the move!” A powerful jump put her on the roof and soon she was moving towards the abandoned building at a good clip. The roar of a powerful engine on the street beneath her told her the Rookie listened. She loved being a hero!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Annie and Rook took off down the street, one on foot and the other in a vehicle. Annie braced the force field encased bomb on one should and used her free hand to help her with jumping from roof to roof. Her comm beeped twice before Rook’s voice came from the Omnitrix embedded in her armored chest.

“Specialist Tennyson! You are three buildings away from the target area! My scans show that the area is still clear of life.” He reported.

Annie jumped from an office building down on the rooftop gardens of some apartments then tapped the Watch face once, “Thanks for the heads up Rookie, I’m landing in the site right…. Now!” She grunted she jumped down onto the construction site.

A truck roared around the corner mere moments after she touched down bouncing over the curb and cutting the wheel to pull an impressive on-the-dime stop next to her. Rook jumped out of the driver’s seat before the vehicle had even stopped completely that odd shape changing gun aimed and at the ready. In an impressive act of wordless communication, Annie looked at Rook, the alien nodded, and she hurled the bomb down into the unfinished foundations of the office building that was going to take just a little longer to be built than the city previously thought.

She turned and covered Rook as they both heard the distant echo-y sound of the bomb’s counter flatlining and then a muffled _WHUMP!_ Annie counted one, two, three, four heartbeats before the shockwave of the bomb hit them. Several relatively small pieces of debris _pinged_ off her back and Annie could hear the wood that had been used to start framing for the foundation of the building falling or hitting the chain fence. _“Thank the stars they hadn’t starting putting steel in yet or Patelliday would way more to yell about.”_   

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

If asked Blonko would fully admit to being more than a bit of a fan of Annie Infinite. How could anyone not be? She was a child that found an all-powerful weapon and immediately turned to help people with it. Sure, she stumbled along the way and might have made a few mistakes but who on any planet could truly claim the right to carelessly swing the harvest blade and not be cut?

Hearing about the young Earth girl that was fighting against Vilgaxx himself from the plumber stationed on Revonnah had inspired Blonko to go against his father and master and join the local academy. He worked and studied and trained until he was at the top of his class. Hearing he was being transferred to Earth was exciting, finding out his assignment was for the same base that Annie was stationed out of was thrilling, but the real dream come true was having the Magister Tennyson approach him. Him! To be the partner of Annie Infinite herself! Blonko almost fainted on the spot.

He had only just managed to receive the personal file on Antoinette before he was sent into the field to back her up because of a developing potential terrorist situation. He was glad that he made his way to _Baumann’s_ before she did, it gave him a chance to access the environment, plan potential civilian escape routes, and most importantly: calm and center himself before he both met and worked with his hero in person.

Scout had warned him that to meet your heroes was to be disappointed in them but Blonko did not find himself disappointed.

Annie was both more and less than her legends. Less in that she did not appear to be half as arrogant and full of herself as rumors might speculate. More in that she was highly experienced in live combat situations and could adapt on the fly in a way that only growing up fighting for her life could prepare her.

When she had slinked up to the bistro and sat down next to him Blonko thanked the gods for the cloak he wore to disguise his Proto-tool and hid the embarrassing way the fur on his face ruffled as he blushed. She was lovely in person, the flowers that bloomed from her head in her Florauna form released a sweet floral scent, and when she turned back to her human form he found himself enchanted.

She wore a Proto-Armor of her own in her signature gold, her brown hair braided back from her sweet face and pulled into a ponytail, fingerless leather gloves with metal knuckles and large braces around her delicate wrists.  The chest of her armor was thicker and ended at the bottom of her rib cage to give her a larger range of movent than he needed, and her lovely well-muscled legs were protected by the gold armor that made drew the eye naturally to just how much muscle she carried there.

When he had seen the look of (very) brief fear cross her face as the fowl-like alien tried to kick her in it Blonko just, _reacted_.

Before he knew he up and rushing across the room and capturing the criminal trio as quickly as possible, the less time they had to run amok was less time they spent trying to hurt _his_ Annie. He repeated a constant refrain of _“Do not fanboy. Do not fanboy. Do not fanboy. Please by all 3 moons_ do not _fanboy in front her!”_ He was so distracted by not embarrassing himself he accidentally mistook her giving him a nickname for her mishearing his name and immediately became too ashamed of his faux pas to tell her he had a full understanding of Terrans erratic naming habits. His plumber classes in Human Interaction 101 were very comprehensive.

She issued orders for an immediate exit and then, like a comet pulled by gravity, he followed her sun-colored form as she leaped from rooftop to rooftop. He followed as she rushed into the construction site and confirmed lack of life when she checked with him and tucked his head when she protected him. But it was not until he was looking up and then down into her armored and then soft slightly flushed face and she was asking him, verbally, if he was okay that Blonko realized he had done it. He had done exactly he wished when he was young: he trained and studied until he finally got the chance to leave his small world and met his hero.

And she was beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry this took me a year but life has been hepatic for me this year honestly. My younger sister died the Sunday before my birthday and I got a job near immediately after to help with bills and to give me an excuse to get up every day. So thanks for your patience with me I know I'm frustrating, and I'm already working on the next chapter so hopefully, it won't take half as long.


End file.
